Presentation Renovation Resources

If we mentioned something specific in the book–a product, web site, presentation, whatever–you’ll see a link to it below. You’ll also see a list of books that are great “next steps” for anyone who wants to create and deliver better presentations.

Thanks again and keep spreading the word.

Message

Evernote– A handy note-taking application that lets you save everything. Also available as an app for mobile devices so you can create and access notes at any time.

Visuals

The Vignelli Canon – Legendary designer Massimo Vignelli shares the design ethos behind his successful career and business in this 50-page downloadable PDF.

iStockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime – The three microstock agencies we use most often for stock images. Many of the photos for the book, in fact, were purchased from these sources.

Flickr Creative Commons and Compfight – Thousands of users on flickr, a photo-sharing site, have made many of their photographs available for non-commercial use in the Creative Commons area. Image quality isn’t as consistent as with the microstock agencies but you may find something on flickr that you can’t find elsewhere. While flickr has a built-in search, Compfight’s search tool works much better. See our Swipe File Friday feature on flickr and Compfight for more details.

Presence

When considering the importance of facial expression while presenting you don’t need to look any further than Bill Cosby. He is likely to be remembered as one of the best storytellers of our time. Watch as a master at his craft shares a little story about the trials of raising children. When all the visuals are stripped away, you still have the option to be your own visual.

The pace at which you present can put people to sleep or place them in the palm of your hand. Conan O’Brien does a great job of not only knowing his audience (he obviously did his homework to learn who he was speaking to), but he also allows his listeners to laugh and think with great pausing and timing.

Being an authentic speaker is embracing the idea of you being you whether you’re in front of 1 or 1001. Steve Jobs was known to take the opportunity of speaking seriously, often showing up days in advance to practice his presentations multiple times before they were given in front of the world. This practice allowed him to be comfortable and calm in front his audience. His words were heartfelt in this 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, you can just feel it. He cares about his message and the listener. If he didn’t, you’d be able to tell that too.

Books

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath – One of Michael’s favorites. A must-read for those who want to make their messages memorable.

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds – An excellent one-volume introduction to making better presentations. If you’re going to read only one book on presentations, this is the one we recommend. Well, after Presentation Renovation, of course.

Resonate by Nancy Duarte – Nancy’s company Durate Design was the mastermind behind Al Gore’s presentation that became the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. This book delves into the art and science of good presentations.

Give Your Speech, Change the Worldby Nick Morgan – This book complements the other presentation books. Morgan spends more time explaining and emphasizing good rehearsal and delivery, areas Deanne feels are often minimized in other works.

The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield – Intended primarily for writers but applicable to all creatives, Pressfield reveals the differences that set professionals apart from amateurs.